In a lineup with Tatis, Machado and Hosmer yesterday, Frazier was batting cleanup!
I saw that, and he hit in that spot on Wednesday, too. I guess it shows that other managers besides Shelton do some weird things.
[highlight]Thursday was his first time hitting 4th.[/highlight] On Wednesday he hit 6th but had 4 hits.
https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxe ... 9150.shtml
It was an unusual move by the manager but I can see the logic of someone who lacks power but gets hits frequently being in a spot where singles and doubles are likely to produce runs if the top third of the lineup are getting on base. That might be more logical than a cleanup hitter who has power but a low BA and is much less likely to get a hit.
It's a rarely seen strategy but in 1985 the Cardinals batted Tom Herr 3rd in 151 games. Herr had only 28 HRs in a 13 year career and hit only 8 (his career high) that year. But he had 180 total hits, batted .302 and drove in 110 runs (3rd in the NL). With Vince Coleman and Willie McGee getting on base in front of Herr and often stealing bases, Herr's frequent singles and doubles produced runs more often than someone who might have hit .230 with a lot of HRs.
Oops, I misread the box score. Damn reading comprehension.
